


times like these

by quietinthelibrary



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, M/M, Time Travel AU, in the sense that their younger selves find themselves in their older selves' bodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9035708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietinthelibrary/pseuds/quietinthelibrary
Summary: “This means I’ll never swim with you again.” Other-Rin raises his head more, looks down at him and smirks. And it’s not like his Rin never smirked, but he’d never seen him smirk quite like this, triumph and disdain battling each other and disdain ultimately winning. At least, he’d never had that smirk turned on him.
Just before Rin leaves for Australia for the first time, he and Haruka find themselves in their older selves' bodies, five years into the future.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mezzo_marinaio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mezzo_marinaio/gifts).



The night after their last relay race together as a team, Rin had invited himself over to Haruka’s house for a sleepover—alone, this time, compared to the “team bonding” one they had just a few nights before. Haruka didn’t know why Rin’s mother let him sleep outside of his own house so much, or so it seemed, though if she were also willing to send him to Australia, he supposed this wasn’t that much in comparison. Also, it wasn’t like his own parents were around enough to tell him not to have another sleepover, though he felt like it would be just like Rin to win his parents over if they were around, anyway.

Either way, as Haruka watched Rin make himself comfortable on his own bed, he was left to wonder how things came out this way. It was annoying just how much Rin was able to get his way with things, no matter how hard Haruka would try to resist, and eventually Haruka just gave up trying. (He would never admit that sometimes letting Rin have his way wasn’t always a bad thing, though.)

“Come on, Haru! I’ve warmed up the bed for you already!” Rin pats the spot next to him a little too eagerly for Haruka’s liking. Actually, it was hard for him to like this situation at all, but Rin had insisted that he didn’t trouble himself by pulling out the spare futon again, that they would both fit fine on his bed, and that “this way, it’ll be like a real sleepover!”

Haruka sighs and slips under the covers proffered by Rin.

… It _was_ warmer already. He supposed that was one positive to sharing a bed. As he made himself comfortable, he looked up to see that Rin’s face was a lot closer to his own than he was anticipating. Haruka hoped that Rin didn’t hear the slight breath he took in surprise, though Rin started talking at about the same time, so maybe he didn’t notice.

“Uh, hey, Haru… are you gonna face this way when you sleep? I mean, I just, I thought it’d be weird to breathe the same air or into someone’s back so I thought we should, maybe….”

Haruka frowned at him. _Is he seriously about to tell me how I should sleep in my own bed? It’s his fault for wanting to share a bed in the first place._ “I’m more comfortable sleeping on this side.”

“O-Oh, is that so? Maybe next time we should switch sides, haha…. Well, good night, Haru!” Rin whispered, before turning onto his back.

“… Good night, Rin,” Haruka whispered back, closing his eyes before remembering something. “Try not to have any other weird dreams about me, okay?”

Rin jumped, at least as much as one could while lying down, before hissing back, “I won’t! Don’t worry about me, just go to sleep already!”

Haruka took one quick peek over at Rin just to make sure he wasn’t looking—it was hard to tell in the darkness, but he wasn’t facing him—before allowing himself to smile. He closed his eyes and thought of sleeping soon, though he didn’t know if Rin would try and keep him up… he hoped not, if only because being around him for the evening was already pretty tiring, and he’d like… to sleep….

 

 

He was standing, surrounded by water and breathing heavily, like he’d just finished a race. His head was lowered, and he felt as if he’d just lost something, but couldn’t quite place it. It wasn’t quite the frustration of losing a race (which Haruka would hate to admit he does feel, but it still isn’t about times) to someone, no….

“Haru! I win.”

Haruka looked up. There weren’t a lot of people who called him “Haru,” though the voice was deeper than he expected.

He looks up and sees… Rin? An older version of him, at least, body more or less filled out—it figures that Rin would actually work out for the sake of pursuing his dream, he supposed—and he looked. Well. He looked good, or more like he’d look even better if his features weren’t plagued with… something like sadness, just below the surface. Tiredness? He couldn’t quite place it, but he just seemed different from the Rin he’d come to know.

“This means I’ll never swim with you again.” Other-Rin raises his head more, looks down at him and smirks. And it’s not like his Rin never smirked, but he’d never seen him smirk quite like this, triumph and disdain battling each other and disdain ultimately winning. At least, he’d never had that smirk turned on him.

“Never.” Then what Rin was saying finally sunk in. Never swim with… again…? Their friendship was practically founded on swimming, so wouldn’t this mean—

Rin’s glare hardened with resolve, no room for any of the doubts struggling to come to mind as Haruka tried to process everything that was happening; if Rin didn’t want to swim with him again… would he never see the sight Rin had showed him again? Was Rin about to leave him the way his upcoming departure for Australia would take him away from him?

Haruka couldn’t help the sharp gasp he took, world seeming to grow dark as Rin turns and starts to walk away. Where was he, and what was going on?

He pulled himself out of the pool and let his feet carry him to the showers out of muscle memory, lost in thought through it all, mind still struggling to comprehend what just happened. Why on earth Rin would say such a thing, when he was the one who had wanted to swim with Haruka so badly, when he was the one that had dragged Haruka into relays and swimming together and seeing a previously unseen sight?

And on another note, why were they older, now? While the most likely explanation his mind offered was that this was all just a dream, Haruka found it hard to believe that his mind could come up with that kind of Rin—but if it weren’t a dream, what else could it be?

But if it were a dream, wouldn’t he just have to wake up? Usually, being aware that it was a dream was enough for him… but as he watched the shower water stream down his legs and into the drain, he was sure that, if he were dreaming, he didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon.

 

* * *

 

How long had he been lying here? It felt like it must’ve been ages, though he was sure Haru wasn’t asleep for too long.

_Get it together, Rin! All you’re doing is sleeping next to each other on the same bed… with the guy you—_

Mentally shaking his head, Rin tried to mimic Haru’s slow, steady breathing next to him, hoping that could calm him down. It didn’t help that he was trying to synchronize his breathing with _Haru_ , but running through all the calming exercises he could think of—ones that he’d usually employ at a meet—helped, at least somewhat.

 _... Is Haru asleep?_ The urge to turn his head to look was overwhelming, but he was finally calming down and he was sure that looking would only sabotage his efforts to sleep more. But would he get another chance any time soon…? But no, it wouldn’t do if he slept poorly at Haru’s place. What if Haru put two and two together, and then hated him? Though he didn’t think Haru would really _hate_ him, even if he always seemed annoyed at something Rin was doing, almost all the time… he’s seen the soft spot Haru has for Nagisa, and the little ways he shows care to his friends. He just hopes that he’s one of the few people Haru’s let into his life.

 

 

He’s walking through a hallway, alone, feeling satisfied for some reason. And taller? _Where am I…?_

Rin shrugged to himself and kept on walking. He must’ve been going this way for a reason, right?

There were three people in front of him, but he hadn’t paid them much mind until one of them called out, “Rin-chan!” in an incredibly familiar (albeit somewhat deeper) voice.

It looked like… whoa, really tall, older Makoto, an older Nagisa, and… someone he didn’t recognize, with glasses. _I wonder how an older Haru would look…._

“Whoa, Nagisa, Makoto! It’s you two!” As the words came out of his mouth, he was taken aback by how much deeper it was. _Cool… I guess I’m all grown up here too?_

Older-Nagisa beamed at him, jumping forward to grab his hands. “Rin-chan! I’ve missed you! But I knew you’d come back!”

Rin smiled back, though not smiling back at _Nagisa_ was, in most cases, practically unheard of. And of course, even an older Nagisa would continue using “-chan,” huh… though if this were a dream, it kind of makes sense… really weird dream though, and he’s dreamt of Haru as a half-fish-man before. Though for some reason, Glasses in the back was sharing a concerned look with Older-Makoto… and then he fully processed what Nagisa had just said.

“Come back? From what?”

A somber look crosses Nagisa’s face, his smile waning slightly before he perked back up again. “Well,” he says, letting go of Rin’s hands, “after you left for Australia, we lost touch for a pretty long time… we sent letters during the first year but after that… you stopped responding. I thought maybe you moved or weren’t getting them for some reason, but when we saw you for the first time in ages just a few weeks ago you and Haru-chan—”

“Wait, what? First time in ages, just a few weeks ago? Also, slow down a little, you’re talking really fast.”

Nagisa stopped and fixed him with a shrewd look. Then he made a fist with one hand and caught it in the other, much like Gou does when she realizes something, saying, “Oh! Rin-chan, have you lost your memory? Is that why you’ve been so weird lately? Or were you abducted by aliens and brainwashed, and—”

Glasses cuts in, “Nagisa-kun, I don’t think that’s possible. Even when it comes to short-term memory loss, Rin-chan-san doesn’t seem to have suffered any sudden head injuries, or he wouldn’t be allowed to compete.”

Rin didn’t even know where to begin with all the information being thrown around; the excessive energy bubbling out of Nagisa didn’t help too much. Makoto seemed somewhat overwhelmed as well, probably not knowing if he should say anything, or if saying anything would help. Glasses seemed exasperated, maybe used to dealing with Nagisa’s shenanigans? And he seemed pretty reasonable to Rin, someone he’d probably get along with. Except for the “-chan-san” thing, they’d probably have to work on that.

Before Nagisa could get in whatever harebrained response he might’ve had to Glasses, Rin said, “Wait, start from the beginning. What happened between me and Haru?”

They all stopped to look at him. “Well…” Makoto started, “I think we were all hoping you could tell us?”

“Oh right, Rin-chan, have you seen Haru-chan? He hasn’t come back yet.”

“Come back from what?” Rin asked.

The other three looked concernedly at each other, before Glasses said, “The two of you just competed in the 100m freestyle race. You were first in you two’s heat, beating Haruka-senpai by 0.02s, and after the race you stopped and said something to him before the two of you went to the showers separately. We couldn’t find him after that, but we found you—however, something about all this isn’t adding up.”

That was quite a bit to process. On one hand, it was cool to hear that he beat Haru, even by a little bit—it meant they were pushing each other on, just like now—but on the other, why would he have left Haru behind, instead of going together? Also…

“Thanks, um… who are you?”

Glasses straightened up, saying, “My name is Ryuugazaki Rei, first year and new recruit for Iwatobi High’s Swim Club! Currently working on improving my butterfly stroke!”

“Oh, is that so? I hope your butterfly is better than Nagisa’s is,” Rin said, ruffling Nagisa’s hair.

Nagisa pouted, but before he could say anything in response Rei said, “I don’t know how Nagisa-kun’s butterfly is, but regardless, I make up the fourth member of our potential medley relay team!”

Their fourth member…? With Makoto and Nagisa here, and assuming they were still swimming the strokes they did… and them obviously looking for Haru….

_Did they make a relay team without me?_

Rin looked down, as if in a daze—dreaming that his friends had replaced him wasn’t exactly a sunshine dream—before he noticed the dark colors he was wearing, compared to the bright yellow and blue those three had on. The Iwatobi High School colors… while he was… in Samezuka Academy?

 

* * *

 

 

Haruka had wandered through the venue until he found a relatively quiet hallway, deciding to sit down just across from a vending machine and gather his thoughts.

For whatever reason, it seemed like he was older now—while seeing Rin was a bit of a giveaway, there was no doubt about it when he saw himself in the mirror in the locker room—and seemingly staying that way for a while. He couldn’t remember how he got to be in his older self’s shoes, but for the time being, it seemed like he wasn’t about to get back to his time any time soon.

If this were the two of them when they got older… what happened?

In the back of his mind, Haruka thought that maybe he should try and find Rin, or Makoto or Nagisa at least, who he’d assumed would also be here; while he wasn’t sure what kind of Rin he’d be facing, maybe he would be able to get more answers if he could talk to him again. But at the same time, something twisted in his gut at the thought of trying to talk to a Rin like that—especially when he didn’t know what had caused such a drastic change.

It’d probably be better if he gathered his thoughts a bit more before facing Rin again, or trying to find Makoto or Nagisa if they were also here.

They’re older, about high school level or so. They swam against each other in 100m freestyle, still. For some reason, Rin beating him meant that he’d never swim with him again. And for some reason, their relationship was really strained—while Haruka was sure that a big part of this had to do with Rin saying he wouldn’t swim with him again, the Rin he knew would always walk with him from the pool to the lockers, chatting incessantly all the way.

This older Rin… while he looked physically fit, and had clearly been practicing, there was an underlying tiredness to him, or so Haruka felt. As if something had sapped the life out of him, the usual energy and enthusiasm of the Rin he knew… gone.

Something had changed in the few years that had (apparently) passed. But what?

“Haru-chan!”

There weren’t a lot of people who called him that.

As he turns toward the voice, a yellow blur immediately jumps into vision, loudly calling out, “Here he is, everyone! Come on!”

An older Nagisa, as excited as ever. At least that hadn’t changed. He looks past him to see Makoto—much taller than he used to be, though he’d started to hit his growth spurt rather early on too—someone he didn’t recognize, wearing glasses, and… Rin.

His breath felt caught in his throat, an ache rising in his chest when he sees Rin, staring down at the ground, brows furrowed, hands deep in his pockets. He was wearing dark colors, in stark contrast to the flashier, brighter outfits he usually saw him in, and also to Makoto, Nagisa, the guy in glasses, and himself.

Then Rin looked up at him and smiled, and Haruka was absolutely sure that this was _his_ Rin. He just seemed… lighter. Compared to Other-Rin, anyway.

“Haru! Is… is it you? Or older you?” Rin grimaced, dragging a hand down his face. “Ugh, how do I phrase this? Um… if you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t, uh, worry about it?”

“It’s me. So now you’re here, too?”

Rin blinks. “Oh, so you were here before I was, then?” The other three just looked perplexed, the one wearing glasses staring intently at the two of them like they were a puzzle he wanted to solve. “… What did the older me say to you? If you were here for that, anyway.”

Haruka looked down. Even remembering what that Rin had said made him feel cold. “He said… that he’d never swim with me again.”

Makoto, Nagisa, and Rin all looked shocked, something Haruka could understand, though it was interesting to see that shock on Rin’s face an hour after he spoke those words, even if it was Other-Rin’s words.

Nagisa turned to Makoto, asking, “But why would Rin-chan say something like that? You know Rin-chan, he loves swimming with Haru-chan!”

Rin looked somewhat flustered, to Haruka’s bemusement. “Oi—”

“I know… I’m pretty sure something happened, several years ago, between them… but Haru never told me what made him quit, back in middle school. Since he also refused to talk about Rin after he’d quit, I thought it might’ve had to do with the two of them, but….”

The one with glasses interjected, “But there’s also something strange going on here, right now. From what Haruka-senpai just said, it’s almost as if he and Rin-chan-san have somehow reverted to a younger version of themselves, before this rift ever occurred. But that’s just illogical! I’ve never heard of something like this ever happening….”

“Well, Rei-chan, sometimes illogical things happen! I mean, otherwise, you’d probably never have joined the swim club, right?”

“A fair point, Nagisa-kun. But this is still practically unheard of! It shouldn’t be possible for two people to suddenly develop short-term memory loss over the same time period!”

Rin cut in, “Actually… it’s a lot more like me and Haru are in the wrong time period, I think. Don’t you think, Haru?”

Haruka nodded. “For us, we’d only just swam that final relay together. Rin’s flight to Australia is in a few weeks.”

Rei looked even more aghast at this; Makoto just looked befuddled, and Nagisa looked about as confused as well, though deep in thought. Then he nodded, saying, “Actually, that does make sense... that would explain why I thought Rin-chan was more like his old self, when we saw him just now.”

“But this whole situation is just highly improbable…. Even coincidental, linked short-term memory loss would be more likely than that—”

“Maybe we should discuss this later? We still have our heats to race in, after all,” Makoto said.

“Ah! I almost forgot, thanks Mako-chan! Though aren’t you up soon? You should get going, we’ll cheer you on for sure!”

“Yes, good luck Makoto-senpai!”

Rin turned to Haruka. “We should talk. I mean, assuming we’re both done for the day, anyway.”

Haruka nodded, and together, they headed to the stands.

Talking with Rin about the others’ swimming left no room for doubt that this was the Rin he knew—his comments on Rei’s butterfly in particular, but the unmistakable familiarity with Nagisa’s reaching and Makoto’s strength cemented it for him.

The only thing they really remembered was that they were having a sleepover before this… whatever this was (“So this was all your fault, Rin.” “Hey!”), but it seemed different from any old dream they’ve had before. Which was saying something, for the kind of dreams Rin has that Haruka knows about.

They didn’t figure out a way to “wake up,” or at least, the tried-and-true tactic of pinching oneself awake didn’t work here. There was also the fact that older Rin and Haruka seemed to have had some kind of rift over something, not too far into their future.

As Rei finished his heat—the others cheering him on several seats in front of them—Rin said, “As far as we’ve heard, it seems like something must’ve happened a few years ago for them—in a year or two for us—that led to things being like this. But what on earth could it be…”

Haruka could only agree with him. “I don’t know. If this is really the future… something made me quit swimming. Something probably related to you.”

“Well… seeing as you’re you, do you have any ideas on what that might be?” Rin asked him, giving him a sidelong glance before looking back at the pool, seemingly interested in watching the next heat come in, but more likely focused on something only he could see, off in the distance.

If he were being honest, he did have a few ideas on why he would ever quit swimming. Like if his swimming made Rin want to give up on his dream… swimming would only remind him of how he’d hurt someone he cared about. In that sort of scenario, of course he would quit. Haruka looked away from him. He wasn’t sure if he could admit this to Rin, and besides, it was just an idea.

“… I don’t really know. What about you, Rin? Something changed for you, too, after all.”

Rin crossed his arms, expression kept carefully blank—at least, Haruka couldn’t read it, but thought maybe Rin was doing that on purpose—before he turned to Haruka and said, “Well, whatever it was, I don’t want it to happen with us, Haru. I want us to stay friends, and keep on swimming together, no matter what!”

His words, combined with his earnest expression, made Haruka feel at ease—and after hearing other (older) Rin’s words earlier, to hear this now felt like Rin was putting his heart back together again.

Haruka did, too.

Before he could even begin to think of how to respond, Makoto was calling out to them: “Haru! Rin! It’s time to go!”

They stood up, Haruka ready to just follow Makoto back, before realizing that Rin had to go with his school—his clothes clearly matched the loud black mass that made up Samezuka—and that Rin, in hanging out with them this whole time, probably didn’t know where to go just yet.

Until another Samezuka student came barreling toward Rin, calling out, “Matsuoka-senpai! I finally found you… I put your bag on the bus for you; we’re about to start heading home soon! And congratulations on your 100m free earlier! You finally beat Nanase-san, after all!”

Rin smiled awkwardly. “Uh, thanks…. Let’s go back.” He walked with the other Samezuka student for a few steps, before turning back to face Haruka, who had been watching them leave with slight concern, and said, “Haru! I still have your number, so I’ll call you later, okay?”

Haruka nodded. “Talk to you later, Rin.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and Gou were all sitting in his living room, getting Gou up to speed on what’s been going on while waiting for Rin to come over. According to what Rin had told him over the phone, he’d managed to leave his dorm for tonight, and would be there in around 20 minutes.

Haruka had, for the most part, tuned out their conversation—Gou had accepted things pretty readily, and now they were debating over whether coincidental memory loss or somehow switching places through time was more plausible. It wasn’t really a conversation Haruka felt up to having, but at least they didn’t force him to join them or take any particular side. Haruka couldn’t see any way of actually figuring out how and why they ended up like this anyway, and thinking about it made his head hurt, so he just waited.

As soon as he heard the doorbell, Haruka got up to let Rin in, conversation dying down as he went. At the door, Rin greeted him with a smile, and said, “Thanks for letting me sleep over again tonight, Haru,” before walking in, toeing off his shoes inside.

“You can just put your stuff in my room for now, before joining everyone else in the living room.”

“Alright.”

Haruka headed back to the living room, where the other four were waiting, still quiet, except for a few heated whispers here and there, a continuation of their conversation earlier. Then as Rin came back downstairs, no one spoke until Rin walked in.

After Rin sat down next to Haruka, Rei started, “Okay, now that everyone’s here… we can start talking about what to do about what has happened to Haruka-senpai and Rin-san, and how they can get back to normal.”

Rei held up a hand, one finger out. “We know that, as of right now, Haruka-senpai and Rin-san only have memories of up until just after their last relay, in the photo on Haruka-senpai’s cabinet over there.” Two. “Something happened between the two of them years ago, but with Haruka-senpai and Rin-san like this, they don’t know what that was.” Three. “We don’t know if there’s a way to restore their memories or get them back to the right time, whichever it is.”

“But we want to help them get back to where they’re supposed to be,” Gou interjected. “And maybe figuring out what happened in the past would help! I think that if that’s my brother from the past, and a younger Haruka-senpai, then maybe they’re here now so they can prevent whatever happened to them from happening!”

Nagisa nodded vigorously. “Yeah, what Gou-chan said! I didn’t like seeing them on such bad terms, so if there’s anything I could do to change that… I want to do it. Gou-chan and Mako-chan too!”

“But altering time makes no sense! Even memory loss is more probable… wouldn’t you think so, Makoto-senpai?” Rei said, turning to Makoto.

Everyone looked at Makoto. Haruka felt that the conversation was starting to get a little derailed, and Makoto looked a little nervous with everyone staring so intently at him, but he said, “I… don’t really know about either of those things, besides that I do want to help in any way I can. And actually…”

Makoto took a deep breath, gathering himself. “A few weeks back, when the old Iwatobi club building was getting torn down, I actually ran into coach Sasabe there. He told me about a time he’d been closing up, the winter of our first year of middle school, when Rin and Haru asked if they could use the pool before he closed things up for the year. He’d made a special exception for the two of them, but after they’d raced… well. Apparently, Haru had won, easily, and that Rin was pretty upset. So I thought that Haru must have quit because he’d hurt Rin.”

No one said anything for a while, taking in all the information Makoto dropped on them. Winter of their first year of middle school… that was around a year after Rin would leave. And if things were really like that, then that meant what Haruka thought… had happened. Or something like that, anyway. He looked at Rin to see what he was thinking.

Rin just looked shocked, though Haruka was sure that there were close to a million things running through his mind at this. On Haruka’s part, since it more or less confirmed what he thought would make him quit, it came as less of a shock to him… or maybe Rin just had more to come to terms with? He didn’t know.

Rin said, “Well, I don’t think either me or Haru can confirm or elaborate on what might’ve happened then. Unfortunately.”

Makoto stammered out an apology, though Rin waved him off as Gou said, “There’s no need to apologize, Makoto-senpai!” She turned to Rin and Haruka and asked, “Did… did knowing that help, at least?”

Honestly, Haruka didn’t know. “Assuming we can get back to our time, and still remember this… probably?”

Rin slumped forward and groaned. “Yeah, if we can get back… maybe when we go to sleep, we’ll wake up back in the right time?”

“Maybe….” Haruka was pretty skeptical, but there wasn’t much else they could do.

“Yeah, it is getting pretty late… I should head home. You all should, too—I actually signed all of you up for the medley relay without telling you so we have to go tomorrow too,” Gou says in a rush.

A chorus of “What?”s went around, but after asking if it was okay with Haruka (“… Sure?”) everyone eventually filed out, walking back home or walking together to the train station, leaving Rin behind to sleep over yet again.

“Well…” Rin broke the sudden silence that fell after everyone else had left. “That was something, huh?”

“Yeah….”

They went upstairs together, Rin off to brush his teeth first while Haruka changed. His room was, funnily enough, just about as he remembered it. Nothing much had changed, except he was bigger now, and some of his school supplies looked different. His sleepwear had obviously changed to accommodate his being older now, too.

After changing, Haruka swapped places with Rin, taking his turn to brush his teeth before bed and giving Rin time to change and get ready to sleep. In the meantime, his thoughts were muddled, mulling over what Makoto had said he’d heard earlier, thinking about the older Rin he’d seen, and questioning if they could ever get out of this.

When he went back into his room, it was a bit like deja-vu, except that Rin slid out of bed before offering up his bed to him.

“I still warmed it up for you, haha… I just thought you might like to sleep on this side, this time.” Rin was holding up his blanket for him. After turning off the lights, Haruka sighed to himself and took it, slipping under the covers and getting himself comfortable while waiting for Rin to settle in behind him.

Haruka closed his eyes. They had just enough space to fit… as long as neither of them tossed or turned too much, it would be okay. Like this, Rin’s warmth was even easier to feel, even with his back towards him, though Haruka quickly took his mind off that to wonder if Rin was about to say something. There was a lot on his mind, and he was sure that was the case for Rin as well; Rin was just the kind of person to vocalize a lot of his thoughts, to him.

“Haru?”

It seemed like Rin was actually waiting on a response from him. “What?”

“You know… I just want you to know that if we ever raced and I got upset at the outcome, it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself over it, okay?”

It was hard to find any words to say in response, though he knew he shouldn’t leave Rin hanging after saying something like that. Even if something like that hadn’t happened to him yet, if he were being honest with himself, he knew that he probably would react like that. Haruka gulped.

“… Okay. Thanks, Rin.”

He felt Rin shifting a little behind him. “Yeah! Now to get some sleep, and maybe when we wake up we’ll be back in our normal time… good night, Haru.”

“Good night, Rin.”

 

 

The first thing Haruka was conscious of was an abrupt movement in front of him, bumping him slightly and rocking the mattress under shifting weight. He kept his eyes closed, feeling inexplicably exhausted, like his dreams weren’t restful at all.

Dreams… speaking of dreams, Haruka was sure the dream he’d had last night was a weird one. What was it… he was certain Rin was in it, for sure, but something was weird about it, still. He vaguely remembered Rin telling him not to… blame himself over something, but he couldn’t quite remember what that was.

Haruka blearily opened his eyes, squinting at the sudden brightness as his eyes adjusted. He could faintly make out Rin in front of him, as Rin said, “Oh, uh, good morning, Haru! I’m sorry if I woke you up just now….”

It was too early for his brain to be fully functional right now.

“You know, I think I had a weird dream last night,” Rin said, “but I’m pretty sure you were in it. We were older in this one too, but... it was weird. I don’t really remember anything besides that.”

Haruka managed to croak out, “… I did too. I think. Have a weird dream you were in too, I mean.”

Rin seemed way too delighted at hearing that, and also way too happy after just waking up.

“What if we actually had a shared dream! Wouldn’t that be cool? Man… if only I remembered it….”

Somehow, Haruka felt the same—like he was missing something, and remembering his dream last night would hold all the answers. But more and more of the dream was slipping away already, and it was about time for him to start making breakfast anyway, so he slowly sat up and prepared to do just that.

“Is there anything you’d like for breakfast, Rin?”

**Author's Note:**

> (hope you have a great holiday season, whether you celebrate any particular holiday or not! 
> 
> and i hope you don't mind the take i took on your first prompt -- i couldn't think of a good way to do time travel without actual consequences on canon (though that's me being particular about time travel-related stuff aha))
> 
> (on a side note, i loved the second prompt you gave, haha. i just couldn't think of a good way for them to interact w/ something possibly deadly?? and i got an idea for the first prompt in the end. i just wanted to tell you i enjoyed your second prompt anyway LOL)


End file.
